Speaking Rate, Oro-Laryngeal Timing, and Place of Articulation Effects on Burst Amplitude: Evidence From English and Tamil.
Chandan R Narayan
PMID 36482708WHAT IT FOUND
Faster speech reduces the loudness of consonant release bursts relative to the following vowel.
This effect is stronger in English than in Tamil. The change in acoustic energy may make consonants sound weaker or harder to distinguish at high speeds.
Key findings
01Decreasing vowel duration (faster speech) leads to a decrease in consonant burst amplitude relative to the following vowel.
02The effect of speaking rate on burst amplitude is more pronounced in long-lag English plosives than in short-lag Tamil plosives.
03Voice onset time (VOT) is correlated with burst amplitude, with higher VOT associated with higher burst amplitude in English.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Participants recorded at home using various microphones and software, which introduces variability in recording conditions despite the use of relative amplitude measures. Speaking rate was self-paced and subjective, not controlled by a metronome, though vowel duration was used as a proxy. The study focused on isolated monosyllables, which may not fully represent connected speech dynamics. The sample size is small (22 speakers total) and limited to two specific language groups.
Declared interests
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that slowing speech will uniformly improve all consonant intelligibility. The study shows that the effect of rate on burst amplitude varies by language and place of articulation, and these are acoustic measures of production, not direct evidence of perceptual improvement in clinical populations.